Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/588

 BERTHOLD

520

BERTHOLD

with his church at Hohn or to drown him in the Diina. The Christians fled to their strongholds at Uxkiill and Holm, while the bishop escaped in a ship to Liibeek.

Pope Celestine III, shortly before his death, was preparing to send a fleet of crusaders to pro- tect the Christians of the Baltic Provinces, and his successor, Innocent III, continued the work. Berthold gained the financial assistance of Arch- bishop Hartwig and many merchants of Bremen and Liibeek. In a short time a large fleet was ready for departure well equipped and loaded ■n-ith crusaders and many German peasants who w-ere to settle permanently in Livonia. It put to sea at Liibeek and crossed the Baltic, entering the River Diina from what is now called the Gulf of Riga. Near the mouth of the Dtina the German peasants landed with the pur])ose of making their homes in the \'icinity, and laid the foundations of the city Riga, at present one of the most impor- tant commercial seaports in Russia. Berthold, accompanied by the crusaders, sailed up the river as far as Holm, where the pagan Livonians had gathered with the intention of attacking the fleet. Ha\'ing vainly attempted to come to a peaceful agreement with them, Berthold and his companions sailed some distance down the river, with the Li- vonians in eager pursuit. Finally, the pagans agreed to a suspension of hostilities to gain time for collecting larger forces. At the first oppor- tunity, however, they fell upon the Christians who ventured outside their fortifications, and hostilities were resumed. The crusaders were victorious, but Berthold 's horse became intractable and galloped into the midst of the fleeing Livonians. A pagan by the name of Ymant thrust his lance into Ber- thold's back, inflicting a wound that caused speedy death. The bishop's body was buried by the crusaders at L^xkiill whence it was transferred to Riga by Bishop Albert of Apeldern whom Arch- bishop Hartmg of Bremen had appointed Berthold's successor. Soon after the death of Berthold many of the vanquished pagans came to the crusaders, expressing their regret at the unhappy occurrence and asked to be baptized. The final conversion of Li^-onia was effected by Bishop Albert, who was assisted in his apostolic labours by the newly founded Order of the Brothers of the Sword which in 1237 was afliliated with the Teutonic Order.

GaUBER, Originrs Lironiv sacrir et civiles (Frankfort and Leipzig. 1740); D.^MBERGER, Syrichronisti^clie Geschichte der Kirche und der Well im MiUelalter (Ratisbon, 1856), IX, 328- 336, 437-438; SErrERS, in Kirchenlex.. s. v.

Michael Ott.

Berthold of Chiemsee, a German bishop and theological writer, b. 1465 at Salzburg, Austria; d. 19 July, 1543, at Saalfelden (duchy of Salzburg). His real name was Berthold Piirstinger, frequently called Pirstinger; but he is generally known as Berthold of Cliiemsee, from his episcopal see, situ- ated on one of the islands of the Bavarian lake of Cliiemsee. We have but little information regarding his early life. He was licentiate in civil, and doctor in ecclesiastical law. and in 1495 he appears as the Magister Camera- of the Archbishop of Salzburg, and in 1508 was appointed Bishop of Chiemsee. During his episcopal career (150S-25), he resided at Salzburg, in the quality of coadjutor to the archbishop of the latter place.

Berthold twice conspicuously used his influence with the ,\rchbishop of Salzburg in behalf of the un- fortunate: in 1511 in favour of the Salzburg town- councillors who had been condemned for high treason, and again in 1524 in the interest of the rebellious peasants. He was present at the Provincial Council of Salzburg (1512), and also took an active part in 1522 in that of Miihldorf (Bavaria), which

was convened to devise means of stemming the tide of Lutheran progress. Soon after, he resigned his bishopric (1526) and retired to the monastery of Raitenhaslach on the Austro-Bavarian frontier. In 152S, or 1529, he removed to Saalfelden, where he founded (1533) a hospital with a church for infirm priests. He died here and was buried in the parish church.

After his resignation of liis episcopal function- Berthold devoted his time to literary pursuits. Ai the suggestion of Matthew Lang, the Cardinal Arch- bishop of Salzburg (1519-40), he wrote Ins "Tewtsche Theologey" (German Theology — Munich, 1528) and translated it afterwards into Latin (-\ugsburg, 1531). Earnestness in the suppression of abuses and mild- ness in his dealings with others were characteristic traits of Berthold, and they appear also in his works; his " Theologj'" does not bear the bitterly polemical stamp of similar contemporaneous writings. The work does not seem to have been in great demand, as neither the original nor the translation was re- printed until Reithmeier re-edited the work (1852). The book, however, was important. The German original is valuable from both a hnguistic and the- ological point of view. Linguistically, it proves that Luther was not the only able exponent of religious doctrines in the vernacular; theologically, it exhibits the character of Catholic teaching at the time.

The other writings of Berthold were: (1) "Tewtsch Rational", a treatise on the Mass; (2) " Keligpuchel' a defence of the Catholic doctrine and practice of Communion under one kind, against the Reformers; (3) "Onus Ecclesis" or "Burden of the Church" (Landshut, 1524) is also generally attributed to him. It is a fearless exposition, from a Catholic point of view, of the abuses then prevalent in the Church. The book occasioned much comment and was re- printed twice in 1531, at Cologne and probably at Augsbtirg, and again in 1620 without indication of

Gre'inz, BerthoU von Chiemsee (Salzburg. 1904-); Reit- MEIER, Tewtsche Theologey (Mxinich. 1852); Werner. Die Flugschrifl -Onus Ecclesia" (Giessen. 1901); Ficker In Realencydop. fur Protest. Theol. (Leipzig. 1905). XVI. 307- 315; Mattes-Punkes in Kirchenlex.. II, 472-475; Schaff- Herzog, Rclig.-Encyl. (New York), I, 252.

N. A. Weber.

Berthold of Henneberg, Archbishop and Elector of Mainz, b. 1441; d. 21 December, 1504. Having completed liis education at the University of Erfurt, he became a canon of the Cathedral of Cologne in 1464. Three years later he came to the imperial court of Frederick III. He was chosen Archbishop of Mainz in 1484 and consecrated 20 May, 1485. When in 1486 Maximilian I was elected Roman King, to rule in union with his father, Fred- erick III, Berthold, as imperial chancellor, ob- tained the right of ha\nng all royal documents submitted to him for signature. Being heart and soul for a political reform of the tottering empire, he used all his influence to bring about a change in its constitution. How Berthold wished to re- form the empire may be gathered from the pro- gramme submitted to the emperor at the diet of Worms in 1495. All state affairs were to be managed by an imperial council (Reichsrath) consisting of seventeen members. The councillors were to be chosen by the electors and the estates, while the emperor was to appoint the president of the council. The emperor, of course, justly rejected such a programme which would have changed the empire into an oligarchy, with the emperor a mere figure- head.

Berthold's ecclesiastical reforms, on the othei hand, which were even more pressing than po- litical changes, were accompanied with great success He encouraged and urged the reformation of tht clergy and the religious orders, which was alreadj